The Start Of Something New
by Dragon'sHost
Summary: Gray looks over the preparations for his impending wedding, wondering just what in the world he was thinking by asking Fairy Tail to help out with it. Armada project: 44/365


**Not particularly romantic this time, but I thought this was a scenario that would be fun to imagine for this pairing.**

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With nervous wonder, Gray couldn't help but marvel at the hastily erected decorations in the out-of-the-way meadow clearing. For something that was thrown together in the span of a couple of weeks, it all looked pretty solid. Sure, the wooden columns had strange faces staring out of them, but that was partly Gray's fault for not being more specific with Laki about how he wanted them to look. Besides, the elegant, green, leafy vines that curled around them, with their large purple and white blossoms that Droy had planted for the occasion, were a pretty competent distraction with only the odd uncanny stare peeking out from behind them, even if – upon closer inspection – the flowers did have… _teeth_ … But so long as they did nothing more than leer at the guests, Gray was willing to overlook the issue.

It was honestly a miracle that an event orchestrated by Fairy Tail as serious as this one could even be pulled together by the guild in question, much less on the tight schedule that they had. Though to be fair, those involved in the project knew that it was mostly due to the criminal element co-coordinating that it had managed to come into being at all. Like the debacle of sending invitations to the Magic Council, with whom the bride was somewhat infamous for betraying and crushing and bringing their headquarters crashing down around their ears. And sure she had technically been pardoned for that, and it was an entirely new Magic Council staff, but if not for some swift messenger takedowns, it would have made for a very tense ceremony all around.

Gray still wasn't certain why he'd asked his guild to organize his wedding in the first place. One moment he was laughing with Natsu and Lucy about how ridiculous a plan that was, how much of an absolute disaster would ensue, and then the next he found himself pleading with Makarov and Mirajane for their benefaction because if he had to look at one more sample bouquet he was just going to abduct his bride-to-be and make off with her into the night.

But despite his rampant misgivings during the whole affair, as he watched Natsu burn down three potential locations, Juvia flood two others, and a guild-wide brawl with decorative supplies destroyed yet another, Gray had to say that it looked… pretty nice, overall. He… he was just going to need to move the candles back from the gauzy ribbons just… a bit…

As he rearranged the as-yet-thankfully-unlit candlestick stands, he was hit was a strange wave of loneliness. Or maybe it was something else. Gray didn't think it was regret, though he would be perfectly justified in feeling that, as he overheard Cancer arguing heatedly with Sorano over what the bride's hairstyle should look like, and as he caught sight of Meredy surreptitiously pocketing several spoons from the table settings. A pilfering that the tiny dictator that was Carla would definitely notice sooner rather than later if the past couple of weeks were anything to go by. Also, Gray was fairly certain that one of the gifts was leaking fish juices, which did not bode well for the contents nor the tablecloth on which it sat.

No, what Gray felt, keenly… was that he _missed_ Ultear. Which was an altogether peculiar feeling to have, given that he was marrying her in two days. Maybe it was because he hadn't seen much of her lately – with her wrangling her own guild into the preparations.

The thought of marrying her made him almost giddy. It had taken a long and bumpy road to get there – near-death encounters, world-takeover plots, and a lot of help from a very helpfully-inclined Meredy that ended in abject disaster on numerous occasions. He wouldn't trade it for the world, and he was sure Ultear felt the same.

Soon, they would be together in the most legally binding way possible. And if luck was with them, they'd bring their eccentric families even closer together, and maybe someday have one all their own. If they'd learned anything from this experience, it was that they could handle a vast number of rowdy, loud children for an extended period of time. Kids of their own would be a walk in the park by comparison. …Okay, maybe not a walk in the park, those had a history of going south fast for Gray. This, though? Ultear and he had it handled. They were as ready as they were ever going to be, and nothing could dim his excitement.

…But first he needed to stop Gajeel from composing any heartfelt musical numbers for them.


End file.
